Alright, my second AMV is complete and it's been submitted to a contest or two. I've only been editing for a few months, but I think this video is a decent improvement over my first one. I think my strong points are sync overall and the lip synching came out ok too. What I need to work on is better overall concept and possibly clip selection for a few parts. I also certainly want to practice After Effects a lot more and be able to upgrade to not solely relying on transitions for synch, but some effects with color, flash, overlays or motion to emphasize synch as well.

Anyways because I am looking to improve please feel free to constructively criticize. While I think the video is entertaining considering my experience level, my technical skill can be so much better, as well as my execution.

Your Opinion is up! Really neat video which suffers a bit from obvious beginner-mistakes but this was a lot better than any of the videos I used to do when I started

If you don't mind leaving an OP to a Multi-Editor-Project and watching a long video that has tracks featuring gore, violence and sexual content, I would like if you decided to leave an Opinion on this:

Thanks very much for the rate, but there are some parts of your critiques I just want to clarify.

You used a low quality mp3 file as source, didn't you?Even on low volume, I hear A LOT of static noises and cracking (I didn't even dare to enhance). You should always ripp your audio files from CD in .wav format and use these and encode them later just as you do with your video.Otherwise it ends up like in this video which can be really annoying. Especially in case you have a good audio system (like me) and want to enjoy your music loud and clear.

My audio source was a downloaded mp3 which I actually did some bass boost and other small tweaks in Audition and saved in AAC format. I honestly don't hear any of this static or crackling you're referring to.

There is also one really bad thing about the video. Something I did't notice either when starting. It is called Aspect Ratio. Yours is wrong.Tenga Toppan Bla Bla is a 16:9 source. You encoded it in 720x480 without aspect ratio flag, so it appears as a 3:2 screen.The characters and everything else in the video looks squished.When you directly rip your footage from DVD, it needs to be resized. Your DVD Player will do it automatically for you, your computer will not.You can either resize your file to the correct aspect ratio (usual is 640x480 for 4:3 fullscreen or 848x480 widescreen for 16:9. It may differ but these are pretty good to use) OR set an aspect ratio flag on your 720x480 video while encoding the file to mp4. When using Zarxgui, there is an option in the advanced settings. Your file will be morphed into the right size when playing the video.

The original footage was 712 x 480 and the pixel ratio was .91 actually, which I told Premiere to interpret as 1.21 widescreen to fill up the black. If you watched the MPEG-2 version it was asked to be 3:2 layered because those were the specifications for the Otakon contest. I still have the project saved, how would you recommend interpreting it? My Mp4 version was Zarxed, but what are these advanced setting I need to check?

The rating system tells me that there are no effects in this video, yet I was about to call you an effect whore.Just kiddingly of course. I wasn't font of most of the effects you used.There is a good advice I want to give you: Do not use effects simply because you can. You need to think of where and why. If the effect doesn't make any special sense, just get rid of it. If it enhances the videos atmosphere and is a needed scene correction, go for it.An example of an effect I liked in this video was the star-cookie cutter. It wasn't executed well as it basically looked just like a preset, but I still liked it as it actually made sense in context of the video.Also try to play more with the settings of the effects you add on your footage. Most presets have been seen by all editors and can easily indentified as such.In many cases, I actually feel like the best effects are those than can barely be identified as such as they seem to morph that well with your footage.

Unless transitions are considered effects, the only real effects I applied were to the beginning with the TV screen, where I swapped the footage and added the TV effect, and using Opacity filters. Also some panning and zoom. Everything else was either from the original footage or transitions. Those star effects for example, were from the original video. Only thing I did was change the speed to match the tempo of the song.

Otherwise I suppose I'll have to learn more about lip synching/flapping. I thank you for the opinion, I'm glad the video was enjoyable, despite the audio problems you experienced for some reason, because I honestly don't hear it.

I was going to review your multiproject but I'm honestly a bit confused so I'm going to leave an opinion for your other video instead. Sorry. :p

My audio source was a downloaded mp3 which I actually did some bass boost and other small tweaks in Audition and saved in AAC format. I honestly don't hear any of this static or crackling you're referring to.

What kind of sound system do you use? I used to not be able to hear audio errors when I was on general speakers, but upgrading made me hear a lot of stuff I didn't use to hear. It is very obvious especially in the parts when the electronic beats pick up.

The original footage was 712 x 480 and the pixel ratio was .91 actually, which I told Premiere to interpret as 1.21 widescreen to fill up the black. If you watched the MPEG-2 version it was asked to be 3:2 layered because those were the specifications for the Otakon contest. I still have the project saved, how would you recommend interpreting it? My Mp4 version was Zarxed, but what are these advanced setting I need to check?

I've downloaded and watched the .mp4 version.

Are you sure it was 712x480? Right off the DVDs it should be 720x480 as which the file is also encoded. (These few pixels won't make much of a difference though)

I guess it's best to show with pictures:

What your video looks like (720x480):

What your video should have looked like (848x480):

As far as the advanced settings for sample aspect ratio goes:

Use the auto calculate option option and set it to 16:9. Your video will still be encoded in 720x480 but the file be morphed to accurate framesize while playback to suit the desired aspect ratio. You could of course simply resize the file instead, but using the sample aspect ratio option will result in smaller filesizes

Unless transitions are considered effects, the only real effects I applied were to the beginning with the TV screen, where I swapped the footage and added the TV effect, and using Opacity filters. Also some panning and zoom. Everything else was either from the original footage or transitions. Those star effects for example, were from the original video. Only thing I did was change the speed to match the tempo of the song.

After watching the video a few more times I figured some of what I thought to be effects you applied may actually be part of the source footage, yet...yes, I also consider transitions, split screens, etc. as visual effects. Anything that is obviously altered footage besides basic cuts is what I call visual effects. There is imo more than masking, invert & co that can be considered.

I was going to review your multiproject but I'm honestly a bit confused so I'm going to leave an opinion for your other video instead. Sorry. :p

TheLuminaireShow wrote:I was using standard stereo speakers with a subwoofer while editing. But I just checked the video on my 5.1 surround and cranked it up and I just don't hear this static crackling you're talking about.

The crackling starts for example around 0:38. I'm a huge audiophile so it may not even bother or will even be noticed by a general audience But it bothered me personally and was very apparent. That aside, it has the typical static sound (especially on the vocals) that occurs when re-encoding mp3 files.

TheLuminaireShow wrote:But also, isn't 848 x 480 not an NTSC format? For the purpose of contests, wouldn't I have to have it at 720 x 480 anyway?

Technically, 853 plus 1/3 pixels would be perfect 16:9. The 1/3 pixels is impossible to do though. 852x480 would be closer, but it isn't mod16 so it would lack compression efficiency. That's why people tend to use 848x480 which is the closest you can get with mod16. The Difference is impossible to catch by eye.Encoding your video with anamorphic sample aspect ratio is technically better, but isn't supported by some players (and doesn't work with all file types) which will make your video show up with the wrong 3:2 aspect ratio. Nowdays, it works in most cases but if someone handles the file the wrong way, they may not get the anamorph. I don't submit videos to many cons, but I encoded my Never Sleep Alone video in 848x480 for Anime Boston 2008 and it was just fine. Recently submitted an 848x480 version of SOAD2 to Youmacon Adult and they didn't mention any issues either, so I guess that's the way to go if you want your video to be shown without stretched/squished animation. I imagine most contest holders know of these facts.

TheLuminaireShow wrote:EDIT: I reuploaded the new 16:9 version. Indeed, there is a difference, not that I could tell at the time.

I just downloaded and rewatched. Looks fine now I'll be updating my rating for visual quality right away.

Yo Kev, just wanted to let you know I recently totally updated my audio drivers and hooked them up to my surround. Indeed, I do hear this faint static now that you referring to. It's quite low though and likely not something I would have noticed unless you pointed it out to me. I don't think it's 3 worthy lol, but hey, thanks for pointing this out to me. Now I'll be able to encode audio better in the future with my new setup.